In the course of studying the surface of Jupiter, scientists from the United States and Great Britain announced that the previously identified Great Red Spot (BKP) is a "portal" through which thermal energy oozes from the bowels of the gas giant, reports Nature.
According to planetary scientists, the temperature above the BKP is several hundred degrees Celsius higher than the temperature of the atmosphere in other parts of Jupiter. Having studied this section of the largest planet in the solar system, scientists suggested that the BKP is a source of acoustic waves that lift energy from the interior of Jupiter to an altitude of 800 kilometers above the spot.
The BKP is about 40 thousand kilometers long and 13 thousand kilometers wide. Scientists became aware of its existence 300 years ago, when it was discovered by Giovanni Cassini. The speed of movement of streams inside the slick exceeds 643 km per hour. This large atmospheric hurricane travels parallel to Jupiter's equator. To study the BKP, specialists used the capabilities of the telescope telescope IRTF (Infrared Telescope Facility), which is installed in Hawaii at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano.
So far, scientists have not been able to understand the exact mechanisms of how the upper atmosphere warms up over the BOD. But they admit that in this case the Coriolis forces come into play, due to which the spread of thermal energy is limited in the equatorial part of Jupiter. Similarly, the warming of the atmosphere in South America over the Andes occurs. Also, a similar phenomenon has been identified on Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
